Federico Borella | Published by CNN Photos

Thursday, June 8, 2017
| News
| Success Stories

(CNN) - Photographer Federico Borella was scared last year before visiting a little cafe in the northern Indian city of Agra. Not because of what he would see once he got there, but for how he -- and the people he was about to meet -- would react.

But then he saw Rupa."When I saw Rupa for the first time, every feeling was gone immediately," he said. "Because I saw in her face and in the face of the other girls -- in Ritu and Dolly -- I saw a very big smile."

Rupa, Ritu and Dolly are some of the women who work at the Sheroes Hangout Cafe. The three of them and the others who work there are all survivors of acid attacks.